What Is Being Done to Save Iraq's National Heritage

by Bruce Craig

Dr. Craig is the director of the National Coalition for History.

Given the coverage of the war in the nation's press, it is hard not to be aware
of the large-scale looting and destruction of priceless artifacts in Iraq's Museum
of Antiquities in Baghdad. The institution's collections documented the Babylonian,
Sumerian, Assyrian, and Islamic civilizations. Last Sunday (13 April 2003) for
example, a front-page story and poignant photo in the Washington Post showed a
tearful Nabhal Amin, the museum's deputy director, crying as she surveyed the
destruction of an estimated 170,000 artifacts. The museum's collection contained
objects dating back thousands of years and was worth billions of dollars in monetary
terms, but was priceless to scholars of Mesopotamia and Near Eastern antiquity.
The card catalog documenting the collection was also destroyed.

The National Coalition for History (NCH) has learned that the loss caused
by the frenzy of looting extends far beyond what was initially reported.
First it was the antiquities museum, then came word that the National
Library that housed precious books, had been ransacked, gutted, set on
fire, and left a smoldering shell. Then word that the Iraq historical
archives building -- the "House of Wisdom" -- the repository for a
priceless treasure of Ottoman historical documents, including the old royal
archives of Iraq as well as the documentary evidence of the country's more
recent history, was also ablaze. Eyewitnesses reported flames shooting 200
feet in the air with charred handwritten letters and papers raining down on
streets. Finally, word came that the library of Korans at the Ministry of
Religious Endowment was burning out of control.

For days, near universal scorn poured down on Pentagon officials who,
according to press accounts were apparently "specifically warned"
months
ago about the need to protect Iraqi heritage sites including the Museum of
Antiquities. Defense department officials retorted, that Coalition troops
were too occupied by combat to intervene, and furthermore, senior Pentagon
officials stated that the military had never promised that the buildings
would be safeguarded though they were included on the American military's
"no-target list" in response to scholars' warnings. General Richard
Myers,
chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, later stated that protection of the
museum had been considered but it was assigned less importance than ongoing
combat operations; that the military had acted first to secure oil wells,
dams, and other critical sites ahead of the troops' main advance, and that
once in the city, Coalition forces placed a priority on securing the oil
ministry offices to keep looters there at bay.

In his statement to reporters, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
characterized the loss merely as "the price of liberation" and blamed
the
destruction of the museum on "the chaos that ensures when you go from a
dictatorship to a new order...we didn't allow it. It happened and it's
unfortunate." Later, during a press conference, Secretary of State Colin
Powell defended the administration's priority decisions and stated that
"The United States understands its obligations and will be taking a leading
role with respect to antiquities in general, but this museum in
particular."
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/2947251.stm). During a
subsequent Pentagon briefing, Secretary Rumsfeld also declared that the US
had begun that process and was offering rewards for those who return
plundered items or helped in recovering them.

According to one Iraqi museum official though, had five American soldiers
posted at the door of the antiquities museum, "everything would have been
fine." However, some evidence is beginning to emerge that some pillaging
of the museum may have been conducted prior to the rampaging mob by trained
antiquities thieves. Their actions, along with later ransacking of the
building collectively resulted in the theft and destruction.

American heritage officials speculate that a full accounting of what was
lost -- not just at the museum but at the library and archives as well --
will take months. The status of other regional Iraqi cultural institutions
in other parts of Bagdad and in other cities now occupied by Coalition
forces remains unknown. Concerns are very real, as during the Gulf War
nine of Iraq's 13 regional museums were ransacked; items in their
collections later showed up on the international art market.

As Pentagon officials defended American military actions before the press,
the scholarly community throughout the world began to respond. Most
expressed outrage at the seeming "inaction" by Coalition forces. On
14
April, over 250 scholars petitioned the United Nations urging measures be
implemented for the safeguarding of Iraqi cultural heritage
(http://users.ox.ac.uk/~wolf0126/petition.html). (Individuals and
organizations that wish to add their names and institutional affiliation
may do so by sending a message to: mesop2003@yahoo.com.)

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) also quickly acted. UNESCO called an emergency meeting in Paris
to begin to assess the damage and attempt to inventory missing or destroyed
antiquities. Interpol was also alerted and requested to enforce the 1970
UNESCO Convention strictures prohibiting the illicit import, export, and
transfer of ownership of cultural property. Several international
non-governmental bodies such as the International Council of Museums (ICOM)
issued statements warning art dealers, auction houses, collectors, and
museums against acquisition of objects that belong to the Iraqi heritage
(see http:www.icom.museum).

In the United States, on 16 April, representatives of 16 heritage
organizations, including representatives of the archaeological, museum,
library, archival, and history communities came together at a hastily
called special meeting of an expanded Heritage Emergency National Task
Force (a loose coalition of many major national heritage organizations in
the United States) at the offices of the American Association of Museums to
discuss what united actions the American heritage community should
take. During the meeting, a representative of one scholarly organization
stated that their members were "outraged" and wanted their boards
of
directors to pass strongly worded statements, fixing blame and getting to
the heart of culpability. A letter by Martin E. Sullivan tendering his
resignation as Chair of the President's Advisory Committee on Cultural
Property was also circulated. In that letter, Sullivan stated that in his
view the tragedy could have been prevented but was not, "due to our
nation's inaction."

During a roundtable discussion, it became clear that there were a lot of
unknowns. For example, there was no clear indication of the true extent of
the damage to museums, archives, and other cultural institutions from
voices of heritage professionals inside Iraq. The group believed that more
information needed to be gathered and that it presently was impossible to
determine how best to provide assistance. To rectify that situation, a
recommended course of action was outlined and agreed to
(http://aam-us.org/files/iraqmeeting.cfm).

First, the group recognized the need to issue public calls for the
"immediate protection of all forms of heritage in Iraq" by Coalition
forces.

Second, there is a need to "communicate with cultural heritage
professionals in Iraq to obtain a list of needs and priorities." The group
felt that this type of interaction with Iraqi colleagues was needed before
American organizations could be of immediate and continuing
assistance. To that end, a team of specialists representing various areas
of heritage expertise may be assembled and sent to Iraq to gather
information and conduct a needs assessment in conjunction with Iraqi
heritage professionals. Several representatives present at the meeting
also reported that their organizations had already started to compile
Internet-based catalogues of stolen/missing artifacts from museums that
would be of use to Customs and other policing officials in reclaiming
stolen goods.

Third, there needs to be a "call for the inclusion of cultural heritage
needs in the U.S. Agency for International Development's list of
reconstruction activities for Iraq." (see http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/).
The
USIA is one such governmental agency that provides humanitarian and
reconstruction assistance and mitigates the impact of emergency situations.

Fourth, the group recognized that there was a need to identify "private,
business, and government funding to support the cultural heritage
reconstruction work in Iraq." To that end, the Getty Conservation
Institute has already pledged assistance (organizations wishing to
participate in this funding effort should contact the AAM at (202) 289-1818.

The Task Force urged heritage organizations throughout the country to issue
statements reflecting these four consensus points.

Gustavo Araoz, representing the United States Committee, International
Council on Monuments and Sites, (US/ICOMOS) circulated a draft letter to
President Bush signed by over twenty organizations. The letter included
several of the action points agreed to by these organizations. The
US/ICOMOS letter called for: 1) immediate protection of heritage sites
including "historic sites, historic urban districts, cultural landscapes,
buildings of unusual aesthetic values, archeological sites, museums,
libraries, archives, and other repositories of cultural property and human
memory;" 2) immediate protection of Iraqi professionals and scholars who
work in these places and thereby enable them to carry out their stewardship
duties; 3) implementation of the UNESCO Convention for illegal traffic of
stolen goods; and 4) the US government needs to insure that funds destined
for post-war recovery and reconstruction will provide sufficient funds for
the field of cultural resources. On behalf of the American
historical/archival professions, the National Coalition for History became
a signatory to this letter. The letter is posted on the webpage of the
Archaeological Institute of America (http://www.archaeological.org) and
should also be soon be available on the USICOMOS webpage
(http://www.icomos.org/usicomos) as well as the NCH webpage
(http:www2.h-net.msu.edu/~nch).

In the very near future the National Coalition for History will also be
issuing a model "Statement" on the Iraq heritage crisis for historical
and
archival organizations to consider using as the basis for their own
organizational statements. Organizations wishing a copy may contact the NCH
at rbcraig@historycoalition.org.

More Comments:

Phil Cavalier -
4/20/2003

Do you really want to politicize this issue for personal gain. It is a slipper slope and you will lose more then you will gain.

In January scholars gave Defense Department officials the names of archeological sites they hoped to spare. ”[The military] had a list of 150,” says McGuire Gibson, professor of Mesopotamian archeology at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute. “We gave them over 4,000 more—but that only covers the 10 to 15 percent of the country we’ve studied.” The main concern of the AAA was that these sites could be bombed and valuable new materials would be destroyed. As Meyers says “we didn’t hit any of them”. The Defense Department bent over backwards to accommodate the Association concerns, and put together a database of over 4,000 targets to avoid bombing. As for looting, the scholars did not offer any plan, or at least they have never revealed the details of such a plan, as they did with the bombing targets. Some Monday morning quarterbacks are saying they were talking about looting but no evidence has been presented to prove this assertion.

Why was the American Archeological Association primarily concerned with the unexcavated archeological sites being bombed? As one scholar put it, “except out of professional solidarity, Western scholars care less about museum thefts than about the plundering of unexcavated sites. Objects in museums have already been photographed and studied, and if they were properly excavated, their archeological context is known. “Archeologists don’t want the objects themselves,” explains Russell, “but the stories they represent. When you yank a clay tablet or a cylinder seal out of the ground, you lose everything but the pretty object itself.”

On April 17th, the UN at a meeting in Paris concluded that: “Much of the looting of treasures at Iraq (news - web sites)'s national museum was carried out by organized gangs who traffic in works of ancient art, according to experts at a United Nations (news - web sites) conference called to examine the war-damage to the country's cultural
heritage.” "Probably (it was done) by the same sorts of gangs that have been paying for the destruction of sites in Iraq over the last 12 years and the smuggling out of these objects into the international market,"

In trying to carry out their contempt for the US Government and the military, many are willing to go to extremes that only paint the history scholars as inept, incompetent and asleep at the switch. Fortunately many of the leading scholars in this area are trying to avoid politics and are giving their best view of what is happening in Iraq. That is why the above statement is so important. The archeology field is a big international business, similar to the oil industry. The true scholars in this field fully understand the power of organized and armed gangs over the past 12 years to steal these treasures at will, and that it is possible some amateur and professional archeologists may be involved. Proceed at your own peril. You may not want to hear the true facts in this multibillion-dollar business. For example, does anyone know if the Iraqi museum official who said if they had five U. S. military personnel everything would be fine, know if he was the one who gave keys to the professional gangs that looted the buildings? Did he show them where the most valuable items were stored? As I said, this is big business and it has been going on for over 12 years. By the way does anyone know when the items were actually stolen not when they were reported stolen? Was it before the war, a week before the troops were on the outskirts of Baghdad, etc. Inquiring minds want to know.

Gary Anderson -
4/17/2003

Perhaps you've missed the reports today that much of the "ransacking" took fake objects from the museum. Many sources say that the staff at the museum were ordered with "24 hour notice" to stash all the good stuff.

Grow up....this is not about artifacts....it is about preserving human lives.